How to Get Event Sponsorship!
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Chris Bayliss, CEO of the Sponsorship Collective, debunks common misconceptions about event sponsorship and emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience. He explains that companies sponsor events to engage with niche audiences and build their brand, not just for logo placement. Bayliss outlines a strategic approach to event sponsorship that includes audience analysis, prospecting, valuation, and activation. He advises creating unique experiences for sponsors and attendees that add value, rather than focusing solely on traditional sponsorship models like gold, silver, and bronze tiers. The video concludes with tips on crafting a compelling sponsorship proposal and securing sponsor commitments post-event.
Takeaways
- 💼 Companies sponsor events for customer engagement, profit, and brand building, not just for logo placement.
- 🎉 Events are opportunities for sponsors to engage with niche audiences in ways that are meaningful and enjoyable.
- 🤝 The role of an event sponsorship salesperson is to create experiences that both sponsors and attendees love and find valuable.
- 💰 There are various types of sponsors, including experiential, promotional partners, media sponsors, and in-kind sponsors.
- 🔍 Understanding your audience in detail is crucial for successful sponsorship sales and event improvement.
- 📊 Audience data helps in prospecting by pointing you towards companies that prioritize your target market.
- 💡 Valuation is key in determining how much to charge for sponsorship opportunities based on the fair market value.
- 🚀 Knowing your audience allows you to build activations that address their concerns and enhance their event experience.
- 📈 Start with audience understanding, then valuation, prospecting, and finally, building a customized activation plan.
- 📋 A successful sponsorship proposal should focus at least 50% on audience data to appeal to marketers.
- 🗓️ The two-week window after the event is critical for providing sponsors with a fulfillment report and securing their commitment for the next year.
Q & A
What is the common misconception about event sponsorship according to the video?
-The common misconception is that companies sponsor events just to put their logos on signs with gold, silver, or bronze above it. However, the real reason companies sponsor events is to engage with niche audiences in ways that are meaningful and add value.
Why do companies sponsor events instead of just buying ad space or doing internet marketing?
-Companies sponsor events to engage niche audiences in specific ways that the audience loves and that connects them to the sponsor in meaningful ways, which is not typically possible with simple ad space or internet marketing.
What is the role of an event sponsorship sales person according to the video?
-The role of an event sponsorship sales person is to build opportunities that sponsors love and that the audience loves, bringing both together in a way that adds value.
What are the different types of sponsors mentioned in the video?
-The different types of sponsors mentioned are experiential sponsors, promotional partners, media sponsors, and in-kind or contra sponsors.
Why is it important to understand the audience for successful event sponsorship?
-Understanding the audience is crucial because it allows the event organizer to know their demographic and psychographic details, preferred brands, and purchasing behaviors, which in turn helps in prospecting, valuation, and building activations that appeal to both the audience and potential sponsors.
What is the significance of the two-week window following an event in terms of sponsorship?
-The two-week window following an event is significant because it is the time when sponsors are provided with a fulfillment report, proving the delivery of promised sponsorship benefits and return on investment. It's also the time to gather feedback and secure commitments for the next year.
What should be the focus of a sponsorship proposal according to the video?
-At least 50% of a sponsorship proposal should focus on audience data, presenting the audience in a way that marketers find appealing rather than just focusing on gold, silver, bronze grids.
How does audience data help in the sponsorship sales process?
-Audience data helps in sponsorship sales by guiding the organizer to the companies that should be approached, as it points to the brands and products the audience prefers and identifies companies that consider the audience as their ideal customer.
What is the recommended approach to building a sponsorship proposal?
-The recommended approach is to start with understanding the audience, determine their value in the marketplace, develop customized activations for the audience, and build a prospect pipeline of companies that prioritize the audience before creating the sponsorship proposal.
Why is it important to challenge the traditional gold, silver, bronze logo placement model at events?
-Challenging the traditional model is important because it encourages creative thinking and reaching out to prospects to build customized opportunities that provide real value to both the audience and the sponsors, rather than just focusing on logo placement.
What is the key to knowing how many sponsors will return for the next year's event?
-The key is to provide a fulfillment report within two weeks of the event ending, gather feedback, and ask sponsors directly how to ensure their return for the next year, which helps in understanding the commitment level for the following year.
Outlines
🎟️ Understanding Event Sponsorship
In this paragraph, Chris Bayliss, president and CEO of the Sponsorship Collective, introduces the topic of event sponsorship. He clarifies the misconception that companies sponsor events just to display their logos. Instead, he explains that companies sponsor events to engage with niche audiences in meaningful ways, aiming to increase customer base, retain existing customers, and build their brand. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of creating sponsorship opportunities that both the sponsor and the audience will love, which involves understanding the audience's preferences and needs. It also outlines different types of sponsors, including experiential sponsors, promotional partners, media sponsors, and in-kind sponsors, and stresses the need for a strategic approach to event sponsorship.
📊 The Importance of Audience Data in Sponsorship Sales
This paragraph delves into the significance of knowing your audience in detail for successful sponsorship sales. It discusses the necessity of having at least 30 data points on the audience, including demographics, psychographics, preferred brands, and purchasing behaviors. The paragraph also highlights the importance of understanding the audience's decision-making authority and their potential to influence buying decisions. With this knowledge, event organizers can effectively prospect for sponsors, determine the right valuation for sponsorship opportunities, and build activations that cater to the audience's interests and needs. The paragraph further explains how audience data can guide the selection of potential sponsors and help in crafting sponsorship proposals that are appealing to marketers.
🚀 Maximizing Sponsorship Opportunities and Post-Event Engagement
The final paragraph focuses on the strategic approach to maximizing sponsorship opportunities and ensuring sponsor retention for future events. It advises against starting with a generic sponsorship package and instead suggests beginning with a deep understanding of the audience and the market value it represents. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of developing customized activations that provide value to the audience and can be sold at a premium to sponsors. It also discusses the critical two-week window following the event, during which organizers should provide sponsors with a fulfillment report, gather feedback, and secure commitments for the next year's event. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for event organizers to think creatively and build unique, customized opportunities that go beyond traditional logo placements and generic sponsorship packages.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Event Sponsorship
💡Sponsorship Collective
💡Engagement
💡Experiential Sponsor
💡Promotional Partners
💡Media Sponsors
💡In-Kind Sponsors
💡Audience Data
💡Activation
💡Valuation
💡Fulfillment Report
Highlights
Event sponsorship is not just about presenting logos but about engaging niche audiences in meaningful ways.
Companies sponsor events for customer acquisition, retention, and brand building, not just for logo exposure.
Events offer unique opportunities for sponsors to engage with specific audiences unlike traditional advertising.
The role of an event sponsorship salesperson is to create experiences that both sponsors and attendees love.
Experiential sponsors aim to add value to attendees' experience rather than just displaying logos.
Promotional partners and media sponsors can help target and market to a specific audience, increasing event value.
In-kind or contra sponsors provide goods or services that can offset event expenses or enhance attendee experience.
Understanding your audience in detail is crucial for successful event sponsorship and improvement.
Having at least 30 data points on your audience can guide sponsorship sales and event enhancements.
Audience data helps in prospecting by identifying companies that consider your audience as their ideal customer.
Valuation of sponsorship opportunities is essential and should be based on a fair market value understanding.
Building activations or experiences for the audience is key to selling sponsorships at a premium.
Avoid focusing solely on gold, silver, bronze logo placement as it doesn't add value to the audience.
Audience data is vital for creating a compelling sponsorship proposal that appeals to marketers.
The two-week window after an event is crucial for providing sponsors with a fulfillment report and securing future partnerships.
Post-event feedback and engagement are critical for understanding how to improve and retain sponsors.
Changing the mindset towards event sponsorship to focus on creating unique, customized opportunities is essential.
Transcripts
you're running an event a festival a
conference a fundraising event big event
small event and you're looking for
sponsorship I know what you're thinking
all I have to do is Senate a sponsorship
package and money will just come
flooding into my bank account
well you've either tried that and found
it didn't work or you're about to try
that and this video is going to save you
months of work and disappointment in
today's video we're gonna talk all
things event sponsorship check it out
[Music]
hi there my name's Chris Bayliss
president and CEO of the sponsorship
collective and before we dive in make
sure you hit the subscribe button and
click the bell icon to get updates every
time we send out a video before we can
talk about how to get event sponsorship
we need to talk about why companies
sponsor events in the first place well
I've got good news for you the reason
companies sponsor events is because they
want to put their logos on a sign with
the word gold silver or bronze above it
unfortunately nothing could be further
from the truth and if that is your plan
for seeking event sponsorship or worse
yet you've been practicing sponsorship
in this way you're in for a big surprise
why do companies sponsor events for the
same reason companies do anything more
customers profit keeping current
customers finding staff building their
brand if all a company wanted was to get
their logo in front of people they would
just buy ad space or do some internet
marketing they wouldn't bother with
events events are an opportunity to
engage niche audiences in specific ways
that the audience loves and that
connects them to the sponsor in
meaningful ways in other words your job
as the event sponsorship sales person is
to build opportunities
sponsors love and that your audience
loves that brings them both together in
a way that adds value if a company is
looking to sample new product sure you
could just put the samples out on a
table and hope people pick them up or
you could come up with new unique
interesting ways to incent people to try
the sample to take the sample and in
that way you're proving to your sponsor
that you're better than just a direct
mail campaign or handing out free
product on a street corner event
sponsorship is an opportunity for you to
take a captive niche audience and a
sponsor and bring them together so what
type of sponsors exist what kind of
sponsorship opportunities exist for
events cash right you want cash then
you'll have cash you'll put their logo
on a sign and away they go
well okay some people do that but you're
missing out on a really significant
opportunity if that's all you're doing
at your events cash sponsors of course
are part of sponsorship and really that
huge part of sponsorship but how you
activate that sponsorship how you
leverage that sponsorship will determine
how much cash you can get so the first
type of sponsor at an event is the
experiential sponsor the company wants
to bring an experience or an opportunity
to your audience not just put a logo on
something but actually add value to your
attendees make them feel better have a
better time make them feel more engaged
give them more of what they want and
overcome things that they don't want at
your event you can have promotional
partners that will help you target and
market to your niche audience your
target customer you have media sponsors
that can help you get your message that
helped you build your brand but also
help you build the brand of your cash
sponsors driving up the value of your
event overall and of course you have
in-kind sponsors right or contra those
companies that give you free stuff that
you then use to offset expenses or that
you give to your audience to help them
a better time no matter what type of
sponsorship you're looking for event
sponsorship follows really the same
process it's fairly formulaic but it's
not easy and that's we're gonna talk
about next so if you are running an
event you have to know your audience in
great detail not just how many people
come but you really should have at least
30 data points on your audience
demographic of course psychographic
absolutely preferred brands without
question coming purchases most certainly
if it's a business-to-business event or
a conference you also want to know level
of decision making Authority you want
titles you want industries and you want
to know whether or not you can even
influence or contribute to a buying
decision if you are running an event and
you don't have audiences that you are
missing a major opportunity for
sponsorship but also a major opportunity
to improve your event the more you know
about your audience and what they're
after the more you can offer them to
make sure they come back year after year
once you know who your audience is you
can do the next three things which are
critical to sponsorship sales
prospecting valuation and building
activations those experiential
opportunities that make your audience
happy and make sure they come back again
and again
how does audience data help you prospect
well once you know exactly who your
audience is what kind of products they
want to purchase what kind of brands
they prefer it points you to exactly the
companies you should be talking to but
then you can also look at what companies
consider your target market your
audience their ideal customer so your
audience may not have identified that
they plan to buy a particular type of
car but you're able to do some market
research to determine which companies in
fact prioritize your audience once you
know who your audience is prospecting is
a breeze the next step in building your
sponsorship opportunities knowing how
much to charge otherwise known as
valuation I'll link below in the show
notes to a blog post and a video all
about valuation we're not going to cover
it in
a detail here but you must know what
your opportunities are you cannot sell
sponsorship proof return on investment
and negotiate with your sponsors without
an understanding of the fair market
value and so we have a number of
resources that can take you through that
process but your value is highly
dependent on your audience without
knowing who your audience is you can't
know what the market value of your
assets are and third in order to build
activations in order to build
experiences for your audience that you
can sell at a premium to sponsors you
have to know who they are what they want
the inconvenience is you can help them
overcome and then you build things
specifically to address their concerns
believe me no audience member no event
attendee said I wish there were more
signs with logos on them that is not
what your audience is after no one sat
down to a gala or showed up at a at a
race and said boy I wish there were at
least 10 more speeches before we got to
enjoy our dinner before the event
actually began these things do not add
value to your audience and the reason
you're struggling to come up with ideas
to make your event better ideas to sell
the sponsors that actually add value
versus just another eblasts because you
don't know who your audience is you're
not asking the right questions once you
know who your audience is
once you've built activations just for
your audience once you've done your
valuation and once you've done your
prospect research then and only then can
you move to building a sponsorship
proposal and reaching out to your
prospects now I know most people start
with the sponsorship package and they
send it out to called prospects in hopes
that money will come in and it doesn't
so instead turn your sponsorship process
upside down
start with your audience then determine
what value they have in the marketplace
develop your experience your customized
activations for your audience and build
a prospect pipeline of companies who you
know prioritize your audience
customers then you can move to building
your sponsorship proposal I'll link to a
video all about the sponsorship package
below but very quickly I will share a
tip with you when you're building a
sponsorship package no less than 50% of
that package should focus on audience
data it's not about gold silver bronze
grids it's not about making the sale to
a prospect you've never spoken to it's
about presenting your audience in a way
that marketers find appealing the most
important time frame in event
sponsorship is the two-week window
immediately following your event after
your event is the most important time
frame for you and your sponsors why
because within two weeks of your event
ending you're going to provide your
sponsors with a fulfillment report
proving that you delivered everything
you said you would showing the value of
the things you promised them the value
of the things you actually gave them and
proving return on investment when you
deliver your fulfillment report you're
going to invite feedback from your
prospect from your sponsor they're gonna
ask them how you could do better and
then you're going to ask them the most
important question how can I ensure that
you will be back next year what do I
have to do right now to make this your
number one priority your top priority
for your next year's marketing plans
I've been using this approach for years
and it always puts me in a position
within two weeks of my event ending to
know exactly how many sponsors I have
coming back next year so within a couple
of weeks I already know how much work I
have ahead of me to bring in new
sponsors if any so when it comes to
event sponsorship we need to change our
mindset events are not just another
place to put logos events are important
in the sponsorship space because it
brings in a niche audience it brings in
an audience that you can create
opportunities for and then you can reach
out to sponsors and create unique
customized opportunities don't let
yourself fall under the trap of gold
silver bronze logo placement at your
events and maybe putting an insert in
the in the bag of free stuff you give
away to everybody really challenge
yourself to think creatively to reach
out to your prospects and build
customized opportunities and remember
the sponsorship proposal doesn't make
the sale you do good luck out there
[Music]
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